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Hi!
I think the frustration was mainly because the backside slices and threadles are trained skills, which makes them really hard to just hand AND run LOL!!The disconnected GO lines looked really good in both directions- you were a little far from the wing to start going towards the tunnel so she wasn’t as sure, but the jumping lines looked good (she seemed to enjoy the speed!!)
I feel the pain the ipad falling over!!!!
So she was getting to the backside very nicely (it will be even easier if you put wings on the backside jump) but she doesn’t fully understand the default of ‘take the jump’ – so you ad to stay there and help with a blind cross – in order to get you to be able to run past the backside , we will train the default behavior. Stay tuned for the skills sets coming today!!Same with the threadle to the backside – you were using physical cues like rotation to get her to the backside and send her back out, and that relies on the perfection of your handling cues. When you tried to move through it forward, she took the front of the jump. So, instead, we will train it 🙂 I posted the threadle how-to i the forum late last week (I will bump it back up) so you can start with that, then later today I will add the other skills sets. The threadles and backside slices are all dog training skills – and when she understands it more fully, the handling will be very easy 🙂
Let me know what you think as we get the skills sets underway 🙂
TracyHi!
Thanks for resetting the listing!Video 1 (Course 3)
The opening line looked strong! At :10, when he land from 4, at that point you can make a transition into the wrap turn on 5: decel then rotate your feet, and move forward to the weaves when he passes you. You might not be right near the wing of 5, but that is fine, you don’t need to be near it. You kept moving forward for longer than needed there and turned and faced the bar at :11 – then cued the wrap – so he pulled the bar,
Nice job with the 2 blinds after the teeter! You can push the timing up and test his understanding: just before he gets to the entry wing of the backside after the teeter, do the blind then take off. You did take off at :20 but you waited one stride longer than I think you need to for him 🙂 And leaving 8 sooner will let you get the BC at 9 sooner – I am sure he can handle that.
Good job on the turn info before 10 (the straight tunnel) – I couldn’t hear what you said, exactly, but he knew to turn = you can try cuing that threadle even sooner to smooth out hte line from the tunnel exit to 11.
He read the straight line after the 13 tunnel really nicely and you get the name call in, so he exited 14 looking directly at 15. Yay!
On the 15 jump at “32 (the last wrap) you can switch to the left arm sooner and turn your head to leave for 15 before he takes off. You were supporting more than he needed: as he was in the air, you were still helping him commit – you can be blinded and off to the next line at that point 🙂Video 2 (Course 2)
Nice job on 1-2-3, getting the name in at the right time before the tunnel so he turned beautifully to 3!
You were a little off the line 3-4 (too far over towards 3) and the blind was a little late (happenign while he was in the air at 3) so he hit the wing of 4 at :12 trying to adjust to get the line. You can start the blind as soon as you see him exit the tunnel (as long as he is looking at 3) which will help with the jumping at 4 – also, stay connected a little while longer there – you looked forward as he was adjusting and that contributed to the bar as well.The 5-6-7-8 line looked good – to set up the RC with a tighter line, remember to call him before he goes into the tunnel (I bet you can send more and get a blind before the 9 jump too!)
The backside wrap at 11 worked icely (:25) and I LOVE how independently you handled it!!! YAY!!! I do think a slice will be faster there though, always try to replace wraps with slices wherever possible on the backside. You can have him come into the backside the same way and exit it on the other side, that will work nicely based on this set up.He turned a bit wide ouf ot 12 at :28 – mainly because even though you were decelerated and giving a verbal and arm cue, your motion was still forward – and forward motion of any sort if king 🙂 So give the cue and move away laterally more.
At :30 for the FC 14-15: trust his commitment and turn sooner. He jumped wide because the turn started when he was in the air. When he lands from 14 and looks at 15, turn and go on the FC. That will help keep you closer to the perfect path line – which will also help tighten the line. He found the line to 16 beautifully!! On the exit of 16 – based on how you set it, it looks like you can send him back out to the last jump even sooner – you pulled him in then turned him away, but you can probably show him the turn away on the exit fo the 16 tunnel to create an almost-straight line to 17.
Video 3 is the ending line of course 1 – the outside arm being up as he exited the tunnel helped set up a really nice turn on the FC at 13! You can start the rotation and do the turn itself before he takes off (you waited til he was in the air, maybe trying to get past the wing?) but the outside arm prepared him that a turn was coming.
Video 4 (Course 1) – very nice blind in the opening! The 4-5-6 line is really hard – if you lead out more, release in motion and execute the BC further ahead, you will then be closer to 4 to get into the gap and do the FC when he lands from 3. At :05, you were a little behind so the FC started when he landed from 4 (so he was wide there).
The rotation on 5 looked really good! You can use your left arm there to do the throwback, which saves some rotation and gets you outta there sooner.Very nice lateral distance on the weaves! When you do the BC from 8-9, two ideas to help tighten it up a bit:
First, trust him more and start it sooner. You started it at :15 as he was taking off, so he had to land long then adjuts after landing.
Second – the line you started on was good for the perfect path! You can get a little closer to the wing of 8 to start it, that way you are running more forward through it and not as laterally across it.
Great connection at :16 to help him get to the new side!!
Nice sprint down the line to the tunnel! At :23 you had a bit of pointing forward so he was unsure and hit the bar, then a bit of pointed forward so he didn’t take the last jump. The redo on the previous video looked great on this section.
You can also play with layering to get down there sooner: you can do the blind a little closer to the jump 8 after the pooles, then send to 9 and use verbals to support his line to the 12 tunnel while you layer the 3 jump (or even the straight tunnel) to get all the way down the course to 13 🙂Overall, this all looked really good! The main theme is to trust him more and do the turns/crosses sooner – he understands his commitment so you can show the cross and leave, all before he takes off. Great job here, let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I have been totally thrilled with Enzo’s coursework!
As you should be – he looked fabulous! It is easy to forget how young he is!!!
>> There are no places where I think “Oh, this will be hard for us.”.
That is awesome!!! And, you have put in the time to train the foundations, so it makes sense that things are coming together really nicely 🙂
>>He does not turn as tightly as I would like but I think a lot of that is that I am learning how to “cue and leave” in a way that communicates best to him.>>
Yes, part of it is his youth – the two of you are still sorting out the cue-and go thing. And also, as he matures, he will also get stronger in core and hind end, which tighten turns as well. He is young and male, so not yet at full strength 🙂
T
Good morning!
On the first video:
>>I liked the last run: spin on #5 and I did the best job of being out of the way on #6. But it was the slowest, I assume because of the threadle.>>I agree! Your #6 was GREAT here and he also had the best jumping effort over #6 (balanced and fast, no possibility of hitting the wing or bar). I do think the threadle contributed to it being the slowest by a tick mainly because the yardage is longer by a little going that way, but also take a slightly obsessive look at the spin: when he was taking off at :28, you were just starting the rotation and you were at the wing of the jump after a brake hand to cue the collection. When he landed at :29, you were not yet connected and said something (hard to tell what it was exactly) before the around cue – so he took a stride in to the front then had to take another stride to get to the backside. Those extra little strides will add up to be somewhere around a half second of extra time on the clock. So, you can do the spin earlier on 5 so you are reconnected when he lands and also use the around cue sooner. It is Monday so we can be obsessive, right? LOL!
>>Moving on to sequence 2. Of course, the beginning was the same. I handled the ending two ways; once as a serp and once with a FC. The FC required a threadle entrance to the tunnel which felt very, VERY slow but the whole thing was only a bit slower.>>
OK, since Mondays are for obsessing… at :05 as he landed from 5, you were not yet reconnected from the spin and so you got the zig zag of extra strides 5-6. At :22 when he landed from the spin at 5, you were reconnected and delivering the around cue – he did not have the extra strides to the front then back out to the backside of 6. The earlier reconnection definitely helps!
On the ending line – The threadle to the serp on the first rep was a tighter line – but I think the exit of the threadle was a little wider (he landed then turned) so that added time – you can get a tighter turn with the wrap cue and moving away to the serp as soon as he turns his head to the jump after the threadle. The FC created a VERY nice turn and a lot of speed! He just needed you to cue the turn on the jump before the tunnel sooner: a right directional and decel then threadle – he was FLYING! That might even end up being faster for him there…
>>Then there was sequence 3. I ran it twice, the second time using the correct verbals in all places. I was very pleased with how this one went.
This looked really nice, especially the 2nd rep! Yay for the great use of verbals!
1-2-3 was strong on both. On the BC 4-5: You can be sooner on this: anticipate the tunnel exit so as soon as you see his head exit, you can start the blind. At :06 the BC stared as he as over the bar so he had to adjust when he landed. At :22 it was earlier, about a stride before the bar so the reconnection happened sooner and he had less adjustment when he landed – but if you can start it when he exits and have it finished before takeoff, he can power through there even faster. And finishing the blind sooner set up a better backside at 5 on that 2nd rep too.
The serp at 6 looked good both times!On both reps, he exited the tunnel looking at the front side of the bar (:13 and :29) and then had to push back out. You can start your around cue while he is entering the tunnel (and say it again before he exits, and then again after he exits) to see if he can exit the tunnel facing the backside line and not do t he little zig zag after the exit.
On that backside jump (8) at :15 and :30 – this is another spot to disconnect and move through without helping him on the bar, It can actually be even more important on this one, because staying there and helping sets up a really tight turn and you don’t need a tight turn to get to the last jump. So as soon as you see him heading to the entry wing on the backside – disconnect, move through the line and get to the BC side 🙂>>I find that I can leave much earlier in training than when I’m running a course.
Do you mean that is it easier to do it on smaller set ups, or easier to do it on course in training versus at a trial?
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
>> If not for that little tunnel issue, he could have Qd if we were doing competitive runs! That wasn’t the point but nice to think about…he ran a whole course!
Yes! So fun to think about that he read and understood the handling well enough on the rest of it that it would have easily been a Q with a fast time.
>Can you tell me if you thought the dig cue was appropriate for that part of the course though or maybe overkill? It wasn’t exactly a wrap back on the course.
Yes, I think it was probably a bit of overkill on that course (hard to tell without seeing the exact angle). I only use wrap cues (especially with the smaller dogs) when the dog immediately has to come back around the exit of the jump or tunnel – and if they don’t have to do it immediately or if they don’t have to do it at all, it is a left or right verbal.
>>Anyway….maybe the Pumi didn’t work out for agility but holy smokes is he an amazing nose work dog. We are competing now towards our Elite 2 title (earning points) and he not only took 1st place overall but got 3 placements out of 4 searches AND got “pronounced” from the judges in ALL 4 SEARCHES! That’s a special acknowledgement judges give for exceptional technique and/or team work! I’m just thrilled.>>
Yay! Congrats!!! He is an amazing dog – his body did not make agility an easy thing (too much injury happening, right?) but he was phenomenal in agility (not easy – but a phenom!). I think it is so fabulous that he can show his brilliance in nosework!!! Such a cool dog!!
Fingers crossed for cooler weather! Feels like the desert here LOL!
T
Good morning!
Yay! It is great that you are working the skills, and I see that she is really beginning to drive in to you AND think about the next line – for example at :13, she looked ready to take the backside jump correctly (and then you rewarded her for driving to the backside)
Great job adding the blind at :21! Nailed it! At :34 you were just a little too far away from the jump and a little late on the blind, She thought about saving you but wasn’t sure – so in that moment, you can re-cue the jump then reward her, to help build the “thank you in advance for saving me” understanding 🙂
The next rep had 2 of the backside blinds and both went well! And the backside blind on the last rep also looked great – you are more comfortable with it and she is beginning to anticipate that the cue to take the jump is coming. Yay!! Great job training it! My only suggestion now if that you can move the timing up for the blind by one stride: on these, you were waiting until she arrived at the backside wing (passing the edge of the wing) then starting the blind. Now that she understands it so much more, you can move the timing to one stride early – when she is almost at the backside wing, almost arriving at the edge of the wing but not passing it yet. I think she is ready for it!
Great job! And yes, onwards to the next set of CAMP games 🙂Tracy
Hi!
>The loud go go at the tunnel was actually mo mo (tight turn) need to remember to tone it down a bit
Ah! I think it needs to be more than toned down, I you can alter it a little to have a better response: it is too easy to yell the O vowel (MO MO MO GO GO GO) so it all ends up sounding the same. Perhaps alter it to muh muh muh – which is MUCH harder to yell when running, it is naturally quieter and also sounds very different from Go. (Yes, I do run around yelling verbals to test them out, ask the neighbors :))
>>The double blind is a weakness of ours. I need to figure out how to train it. Ideas ?
Fortunately, the double blind doesn’t take much training – it is one of those “natural” handling cues that dogs read if we get it right. So it is a matter of getting us humans to be more comfy…. I think that most folks in this class are NOT comfy with them so I am posting a skill set for them later today 🙂 It is all about timing & connection. You can see a bit of about it on the skill set from 2 weeks ago with the backside blind to blind.
>>Starting the blind while she is in the tunnel is the same thing you told me to do last week, I didnt remeber.
That is a good thing to add to your walk through – reminders about when/where to start the cues relative to tunnels.
>> Is it a pretty safe rule to turn your head and start the blind when the dog is in the tunnel ?
Nope – it is specific to the sequence. If the dog is in a tunnel and my motion & new connection on the exit of the blind will support the next jump, then I can start it early (while the dog is tunneling). If the dog is in the tunnel and I start the blind early and my motion/new connection will pull the dog off the line, then I need to wait until the tunnel exit so the dog can see the commitment cue to the jump after the tunnel. Stay tuned for a skill set about it today too 🙂
>>Remember the days when you waited until the dog was one stride before the jump before you gave the next cue ?
Oh heck yes, the poor dogs LOL!!! Or when we would “wait to see commitment” and then start? Oy, so very late. We are getting better. Habits are hard to break indeed!!
T
Hi!
These went really really well, so I am going to bug you about the tiny details where we can get more trust and more speed. One thing I have seen with Ivan is that he has pretty fabulous skills – so now I am going to bug you to trust those skills and challenge him by leaving sooner (even disconnecting to run run run in certain spots) so he can maintain the high speed across the sequence. When you stick around for too long, he slows himself down to wait. He is very polite LOL!!!I didn’t see any issues with the higher bars at all, he did well!!!
On the video:
The opening line of the first 2 sequences: 1-2-3 looks fabulous, he really drive to the tunnel. You had a slight hesitation as he was exiting the tunnel at :08 and :33 and :53 and 1:19, moving in a bit too far to the tunnel exit, so he collected more than needed at 4. If you were going to the tunnel exit to avoid getting too far ahead for 5 (which TOTALLY makes sense), you can tweak that to go deeper to the tunnel entry and then accelerate away, so he doesn’t see any deceleration as he exits the tunnel.
You had more acceleration on that line 3-4 at 1:43, so he extended more too.His send to the 6 backside was great at :12 – perfect verbal, perfect connection, he appeared to completely understand what to do. So, at that point, as he is heading for the backside: disconnect and run into the gap to 7 and do the blind to reconnect on your right. At :13, you were too helpful LOL! What I mean by that is you used a come verbal and turned your feet towards him as he was taking off and stayed near the exit wing, so he didn’t see the blind until after he landed and exited the wing at :14. He had to slow down to let you clear the line. You were less helpful (in a good way) at :38 and :59 by cuing the around and then running through it more – and he did a great job committing! That allowed him to see the line much sooner and have more speed to 7. You still had your opposite arm come up and that delayed your blind (especially at :59 and 1:48) – I bet he does not need th opposite arm to support commitment there at all. At 1:23 and 2:18 you didn’t really use the opposite arm there, you just opened up your shoulder so you got around the wing even faster. I think he doesn’t even need that, and you can just disconnect and run.
Let’s find out if he truly understand the backside cue to mean “go to the backside AND take the jump” so cue it like you did and then leave and see what he does 🙂On the threadle at :18, you had the verbal going but rolled your shoulder away so I think he read it as a pull and flick and sent himself back out to the backside of 9. At :44, it was the same shoulder pull and his name, same result. But at 1:04 he had a better view of your threadle arm (more rotation of the upper body towards him) and also you pulled away from the line a bit, and he got it. Yay! He also read it nicely at 1:29 when you added the next section (next sequence).
The straight tunnel out there is actually on his line after hte threadle, so he was correct to get it (he took it on the previous rep, too), so you would need a wrap cue and probably an opposite arm to treat it like a discrimination. I see you moved it after that LOL! Darned tunnels hahaha!Without the tunnel in play on the line at 1:53, he read the exit of the threadle jump perfectly! Now, trust that serpentine jump even more: as he is approaching it, keep moving towards the tunnel. The connection is still important (it is not one of the disconnect and run moments) but you hesitated there to help pull him in and he doesn’t need it – it caused him to have to slow down and look up at you. You hesitated less at 2:25 but he still saw a little decel and a little pull away from the jump, so he lifted his head. On this serp jump, keep your chest open to the bar and your eyes on him, but stay ahead and run towards the tunnel line – it is another spot to challenge his skills. If he has a question about commitment, we can train it. But I think he will be happy to commitment independently there.
Seq 3 – Really nice! I can bug you about trusting him more for the tiny details on this one too 🙂
When he is committing to the #3 tunnel, you can drive away directly to the blind cross 4-5 to try to get it done no later than him exiting the tunnel. You were moving more at 2:35 so he was faster – but you were not past 4 early enough so the blind was late at 2:37 and 2:57 and he slowed down for a stride to let you clear the line.
The backside send looked lovely! And you moved through the serp at 2:41 more smoothly and he read it perfectly. You hesitated a bit and pulled away a little on the serp jump at 3:01 so he looked up at you and slowed down – you can totally just blast through it.Great camera angle on the around after the tunnel at 2:43: he exits looking at you for the around cue, which means he is ready for it a lot sooner. As he is entering the tunnel (6 feet before he gets in) you can start the around cue: say it before he enters then again before he exits and then one more time after he exits (or 2 or 3 more times :)) blanket the line with it so he hears it early and often – that way he can exit the tunnel and blast to the backside. The around cue was earlier at 3:05 so he had a better line to the backside (fewer questions).
Then, just like that #6 jump on the previous sequences: when he is heading to the backside, you can disconnect and run to the blind. You were watching/helping as he was jumping the bar, so he had to jockey in to the new line after he landed. On the very last rep, he dialed his speed back and waited a bit more, but we want him to blast as fast as he can 🙂
So – take the risk of trusting him more and handling the serps and backside slices less, so you can blast to the new spot – if he has an error, no worries we can train the commitment more if he needs it. Great job here, let me know what you think!
TracyHowdy!!! This is also on my current list of obsessing 🙂 And because of that, I have custom skills sets coming tomorrow for this exact thing. Because yes: we need the backside slice cue to be a compound cue meaning go to the backside and slice the jump. I have found that this level of understanding helps the jumping significantly, partially because the dog has the info sooner and partially because the handler is already on the next line (which also cues the jumping). Voodoo used to spend quality time hitting the wing with his shoulder on these but that has stopped now that I re-trained it as a default behavior. And I tortured my seminar attendees (I mean, trained the dogs haha) on this default behavior this past weekend and all of the jumping issues stopped.
I have NOT found any of the prop methods to help all that much (like shaping the jumping with a cone or whatever) because when the prop is not there the understanding is also not there.I do have a plyometric game I play to help the jumping – so strengthening is a bit piece of it too.
T
Hi!
>>yes Zing loves her straight lines to tunnels. She will adore the AKC novice course (except for the table, which will probably be a running table). It is on my list to be working jumping skills. I just moved her up to 18″ the day before this vid so she is still trying to get it all sorted out. I wanted to wait and work the jumping skills until she actually had to “jump”.>>
Ha! A running table!!!! Please teach it as an online class: Springboard To Table Success lol
>>We worked the threadles last night (kind of like your demo), but with a cone and bar. She totally cheats and doesn’t jump the bar LOL. But I worked them again this morning with a jump, but the bar low on the one side. I think this lowers the complexity of the task for her and her speed is much better. Once she got everything sorted out I put the bar low on the other side to get the tight exit wrap.>>>
Perfect!!!!
>>I will keep working Pinwheels, I love the wing wrap in the middle. That really helps.>>
Keep me posted!
>>Question for you. I looked through all the exercises and I would like to set up the Masters 3 course for Zing. I don’t expect to run it as a course, but I really like the setup. There are lots of skills for us to work and in a way that I can’t babysit. Do you mind if I skip to that?>>
Totally fine to grab that course and work it! You can do things in whichever order makes sense 🙂 I have some ‘default’ skills sets coming tomorrow too, meaning getting the dogs to take the jump on complex skills as part of the initial cue so you can depart for your next destination on course 🙂
T
Hi!
Do you mean changing your avatar? If so, I will copy the directions below. If not, let me know and we will figure it out 🙂>>you don’t know you need to train something until it doesn’t work like you think it should. >>
Wise words, indeed!!!
>> My dogs all know the backside slice, however, they don’t know how to slice while I am proceeding onward on the course. >>
That is a common struggle!! Lots of folks are seeing the same thing.
yes, you are correct about the progression in terms of getting you further up the line while tossing the reward back to the landing area. I would start it with the reward being there earlier (before the head turn) to help create the default behavior.
Because this has come up with many of the dogs this week, I have skills sets for it coming tomorrow!!!! I will post the entire progression 🙂 Stay tuned!
Tracy
Hi! Hope the weather is cooling off a bit, it is brutally hot here!
These disconnection skills are really good for her to play with – she has, in the past, wanted really perfect connection LOL!
On the GO lines – nice job! You were nicely disconnected and she didn’t seem bothered at all. Yay! You can actually disconnect even more, as in look totally ahead and don’t even turn your head, running as fast as you can 🙂On backside lines – I think these are less comfy for you, in terms of trusting and disconnecting: on the first rep, you were waaaay too connected LOL!!! You actually helped her over the bar 😁 You were better on t he next rep in terms of leaving with less help over. the bar and she was great. Keep working to NOT hang out at the bar and NOT use your hand to point to it on these backside serps: as soon as you see her heading to the entry wing, trust her to take the bar and just go go go get outta there 🙂
That goes the same for the rep at :49 – you had a lovely send to the backside and then at ;51, you stayed there and dropped your left arm in and pointed at the bar. She doesn’t need that, you can just leave for the next line at that point. That will allow you to pick up the connection on the exit line for the next jump.
On the next rep, yes the back cue was a little late but good job keeping her moving and getting the timing nicely on the next rep. You moved through the serp at 1:14 much more nicely, you didn’t point at the bar as much. You did still point at it a little and she ticked it with her toes. Same on the next rep – only a little tiny point at the bar LOL! But I will wager you a 6 pack of nice craft beer that she does not need the point. I bet she will take the bar with you moving through it and not pointing 🙂
Good job on the ending reps with the GO line from the tunnel… these were a little harder for her as you were more disconnected, she definitely gave you a “what the WHAT” look over the first jump after the tunnel LOL but she stayed on her line and you got to great position! Yay!
So as crazy as it sounds… keep working these disconnection games because it will help her not require you to be so perfect in connection.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Glad you had a chance to catch up! Hopefully you are busy having fun and not working too hard 😁
Video 1:
On the first run, she was in ‘thoughtful youngster’ mode LOL! She was thinking about the lines and that was bleeding off a bit of speed – but I LIKE the thoughtfulness as a sign of things to come! It is better to think before speeding at things LOL! So, when she is being thoughtful on the bigger courses (especially in newer places) which means her commitment is a little stickier, you can over-help the lines by exaggerating the connection more. Sure, it is a fine balance: sometimes it is tooooo much but on this run, you can exaggerate the connection 1-2 and from the straight tunnel to the curved tunnel (she was checking in with you on both of those spots). It looks like she ended up on the wrong side of 4 but that was the line you were setting with your running line and also that was how the jumps were set, so it made sense to her.On the second run – she was more comfy and you were better connected so 1-2 was nice!!! You had more of a ‘here’ on 3 to get the correct side of 4 but then said GO! so she went 😁 The way the angle of the jump is set here, it is more of a threadle line than a normal FC line, which makes it a bit harder.
You kept a nice high rate of reward as you worked through it! Yay! On your wit wit wit cue at 1:25 wish, is that a bypass cue? If so, she was correct to bypass 4. If it is your threadle cue, then yes we can help her default to taking the jump at 4. She did get it there after a few passes, but I do have skills sets coming tomorrow to help with the default of taking the jump after being threadled in, so you don’t have to handle each part of it.
She got better and better on the 2 tunnels! She was a little commitment-sticky on the wrap at the end, so that is a place to over-help with more connection for longer to support the commitment, for now.Video 2 (last part of course 3):
The opening of the first run looked good! When she got to jump 4 after the witwitwit, you can cue the jump with your left arm back (:09) to get your shoulders pointed more towards it. She was heading to it until you pointed forward to it with your left arm, which actually rotated your shoulders away from the line and then she came off the jump. The same thing happened at jump 6 at :17.
On the second run: at 1:10, this falls into the “don’t say tunnel until she is looking at the end of the tunnel you want” category LOL!!! You released and turned forward ever-so-slightly (going into a softer connection) so she read a possible blind cross – and at that moment, you said the tunnel cue… and she went right into the tunnel entry behind you. That is something I have learned the hard way LOL! On the next rep you had a lot more eye contact from what I could see so she didn’t read a potential blind. When I look back at the very first rep, you also had a lot of eye contact and she stayed on the correct side – so this is also a good spot to exaggerate the connection.
At 4 at 1:56, you had more connection and less pointing, and also moved more towards the jump so she committed very nicely.
At 1:58, she was on the line to 6 and then you pointed forward before she passed you – this turned your chest away from the line so she had a spin there. Try to keep your dog side arm from being less of a part of the cue, particularly on sends: it should be lower and softer like you had it at 6 at 2:21 where you send her beautifully! Super nice! And a perfect place to reward and stop 🙂 Yay!Video 3 (attempt 1 course 2):
Glad her pads are feeling better! She was MUCH faster here – cooler weather? More comfort there? The speed reduced some of the accuracy in the handling but that is fine 🙂 It looks like you did the cross too early 2-3 so she didn’t take 2 (it was hard to see because you were mostly out of the picture) but it might have also been position: it looks like she never considered 2 and was just running like mad to get to you.
On the serpentine at :12, she ran a parallel path to you and didn’t take the jump. I think there were 2 reasons for it: you had your shoulders closed forward and didn’t have a connection. And, she needs more understanding of the default to come in and take the jumps on seeps. It is on my list for the skills sets posted tomorrow, that has been hard for a lot of the dogs here!
On the fixes, you called her and hung back a little so she got it. I think driving ahead like you did on the first run is great, so definitely call her but also put your left arm way back there so the center of your chest faces the bar to open up the serp position while your feet run forward.
She got it almost as a default when you went back through there at :57, yay!!! She just needed a more intense connection from you on the exit in order to know which side to be on. The ending one looked nice! Great connection! Keep powering through that last jump – when you pull up too soon, she was thinking you wanted a collection so she started to pull up too.Video 4 (Course 2 try 2)
An idea that might help her on the part line is to lead out with a lot of connection – you did this on the 2nd rep and she was able to hold the stay and *almost* take jump 2 (ignoring the people :)) And yay for the extra connection to help her get 2 AND the reward on the next rep. I love how you reward her for getting it right on the hard parts!!!
After the reward rep, the opening line looked really nice. When she is more experienced with finding 2 you can move over a little bit more on the line towards 3 to get the turn a little more perfect but it was pretty darned good here and super fast!
She did well coming on on the serp jump at 1:49! Be sure to give lots of connection on the landing so she knows what the next line, and give the connection while she is still over the bar of the serp jump. You were looking forward a bit so she kind of hopped in behind you. The connection helped make the middle section look really good and you also had more connection on the serp at 1:57 so she read the exit line nicely!
At the very end, 2:03, you decelerated and looked forward on the last jump, so she looked up at you: stay connected and accelerate so she can keep driving to the end.Seq 1 video:
VERY nice! Nice connection here and she was pushing you, so you had to move fast 🙂 Yay! My only suggestion on this one is that you do the blind 4-5 sooner: you can prepare to do it while she is in the tunnel so it is underway as she exits. You handled it more like a serp blind at ;15 so she didn’t see the new side until she ws landing at :16.Seq video2:
also really nice, super easy for her 🙂Seq 3 try 1:
This also looked really good! The entire opening line looked good – you can do the BC 4-5 sooner (as suggested above) which will make getting away from 5 even easier. She ended up in the wrong end of the tunnel because you had a slight hesitation coming away from 5, which turned her left over 6 at :11, then when you said ‘tunnel’ and pointed forward so she stayed on the line she was on.
Compare it to the last video where you got away from 5 a lot sooner so your running line made it much easier to get the correct tunnel (I think you used your leg as a barrier there LOL!) Now, to make it even easier, ramp up your serpentine connection to the extreme level so she can push away even more easily.Great work on all of these! She is really develop course running skills and it is so fun to see! Let me know what you think.
TracyHi! Very fun to get him out into a trial setting!!
He ran BEAUTIFULLY 💕💕💕
I am so excited for you!!!On the tunnel question: I think it is a young dog commitment question: that was a massive turn cue and he used to seeing them and responding on a jump, so a quick response. He was turning around in the tunnel, trying to make a quick response LOL!
So, you can train it with a short tunnel, one that is maybe 5 or 6 feet of squished up tunnel if you don’t have a short one. You can show him a gentler version of the cue and then reward at the end (does he like a Manners Minder?). Then fade the reward to the side so he can’t see it as early. When he finishes the tunnel and turns, you can then start to gradually extend the tunnel.
And when using the cue on a big tunnel in a course like in your class – no need for such a strong cue 🙂 Or, do the strong cue and ask the instructor to either throw the toy for you or to allow you to place your toy or manners minder out there That way you can reward for finishing the tunnel THEN turning LOL!But overall the run looked amazeballs, I am really excited about your teamwork with him!!
The seminar this past weekend was in a covered arena building (Hog Dog in Millersville MD) – great footing but NOT air conditioned. 90-something degrees and humid by midday. However, everyone was masked the entire time, including during the runs, and we were only the normal level of sweaty 🙂 So, with proper precautions, I think agility will be able to move forward as long as people are happy to follow the precautions that will try to keep us all as safe as possible. My area (VA and MD) have decent numbers in terms of the virus, so I plan to stay in this region and avoid the hot spot areas. I think NJ is doing well too!!!
How did the nosework go?
